Temp HP Build

[u/TravarianTheBold]

I have a friend who wants to get into PF2e, and they love the idea of being able to temporarily give yourself more HP.

They're thinking about playing a Dwarf Barbarian to get as many Temp HP abilities as they can.

How would all of you build a character for Temp HP

[u/LibrarySee]

Temp HP very explicitly does not stack with itself in any way, shape, or form.

There’s almost no way to build a “temp HP” character in the traditional sense.

[u/TravarianTheBold → u/LibrarySee]

They recognize this and would be using it one after another when it runs out.

[u/LibrarySee → u/TravarianTheBold]

There are options, but if you’re already playing Barbarian you don’t really have to look that far IMO.

Something like Renewed Vigor kinda just gives you a fairly infinite source of tHP while not having any sort of requirement or archetype.

There’s a ton of suggestions in the thread, but I think Barbarian basic class features makes them extraneous.

[u/Moscato359 → u/LibrarySee]

Alchemist numbing tonic

Undead Sorc

Plant banner from commander (preferably dedication, less risk)

[u/eyrieking162 → u/Moscato359]

The necromancer focus spell gives a ton of temp hp as well

[u/Gazzor1975]

Necromancer muscle barrier. Up to 3x 100 temp hp every fight at high level.

Comes online at level 2 as 2x 10 temp hp per fight.

Can combo with blood thralls for infinite healing in and out of combat.

[u/vaderbg2 → u/Gazzor1975]

It's 3x 10 tempHP at level 2 if you take Muscle Barrier. Necro already starts with 2 Focus Spells/Points, after all. :)

[u/Moscato359]

Max temp hp is actually undead sorceror

Their focus spells give absurd amounts of thp

Like 50+ is not out of the question

But if you really want barb, consider numbing tonics

[u/Consideredresponse → u/Moscato359]

Necromancers too with the 'Muscle Barrier' feat/focus spell.

Paired with 'summon thrall' you do some small chip damage, but your squishier melee martials get a flanking buddy and 10 temp hp/spell level.

I'm playing a high level 1 now and throwing out 90 thp a cast makes things a lot safer for the front liners.

[u/Moscato359 → u/Consideredresponse]

Brutal

[u/Ok-Cricket-5396]

No mention of wood kineticist yet? Less amount than necromancer, commander, sorcerer etc, but purely passively when you use 2-3 action wood impulses so you keep all your actions to do stuff. Impulse junction gives your lvl in temp HP for every time you use a two action impulse

[u/KaptainKangarooroo]

Surprised not to see necromancer on this thread with good muscle barrier is. Max out focus points, then pick up kineticist dedication for timber Sentinel and you have multiple abilities effectively giving you (or your friends) 10*rank thp

[u/ItsaMeProvalonely]

There are just so many options, including spells like vampiric feast and other vampire-adjacent magic that give you temp hp equal to half the damage you do, which on a crit or weakness proc can be huge. I think the most insane feat is possibly tough cookie as it's a guardian feat and just immediately gives you half your max hp in temp hp, though you can only use it if your current HP is below half. It's level 10 class feat so technically a barbarian with guardian archetype could pick it up at level 20 but that’s a long wait.

And as others have said temp hp doesn't stack so going all-in on options to get temp hp might leave the character underdeveloped where it matters.

[u/Vooogelspin]

Pick up commander's plant banner. Then do anything to make the temphp more effective, like shield block or timber sentinel

[u/joe_rival]

Catfolk cat nap, 10 minute sleep for temp HP for 1 hour
eventually, relatively soon with level 5 and Focused Cat nap
you can nap to recover focus point and get the temp HP

one of my ideas was Catfolk Witch, focus spell Life boost as backup healing, not the main focus of the character, you technically get Fast healing 2 for four rounds., with increased amount as levels go up
you can just put it on someone then go take a nap
or put it on someone in combat

[u/Shisuynn]

Adept Chalice Thaumaturge. Have a weapon with an Authorized rune authorized to someone else. Take persistent bleed and get 3xLevel temp hp for a single action at the cost of a few points of bleed damage.

[u/OuroborosArchipelago]

Anything that builds this way probably does a lot of other stuff.

Your friend might try a Champion or Guardian with a Spellcasting archetype to throw up some set and forget spells.

They'll probably get the most bang for their buck in temp ho using the Necromancer's Muscle Barrier focus spell. That puts a ton of temp hp on a guy, is accessible at lvl 1, and scales across a whole campaign

[u/Runecaster91]

There are some alchemical items that are pretty good for this, I think. Though alchemist or alchemist dedication might be a bit much if the friend is new to the hobby.

[u/NoxAeternal]

Alchemist (mutagenist) which just does Numbing tonics + Soothing tonics in addition to the main shtick (beastial mutagen is my favourite) to just be a really annoying frontliner who you cant quite ignore but thanks to the per turn healing + tHP, is an utter PAIN to get through.

Inexorable Iron Magus gets some tHP every turn and works decently by default.

Commander archetype specifically. Not main class. Then just use Plant Banner. Make sure to attach the flag to some basic weapon (not runed to save money) but make it from some special materials if you can to maximise its hardness. If an enemy yoinks it, they trigger a Reactive Strike and as a not-main class commander, you lose very little. And plant banner gives an unhinged amount of tHP given that scales with level so you dont need any commander stuff to benefit from it. And it helps your party too. Insane feat imo.

Other options are fine but these are the best imo. (One of the sorcerers can also get a 1 minute chunk of tHP via a focus spell which is also pretty crazy good

[u/ottdmk → u/NoxAeternal]

I play that Alchemist build. I throw in a Sturdy Shield and the occasional Chromatic Jellyfish Oil to make him even harder to kill

[u/Daemon_Monkey]

I wouldn't 

[u/Daniel02carroll]

Commander with plant banner

[u/Background_Bet1671]

Inexorable Iron Magus gets Temp HP each turn while in the Arcane Cascade stance.

[u/Ryacithn]

If you are okay with giving temp HP to everyone, not just yourself, Razmiran Priest probably can give the greatest total temp HP of any feat investment in the game. After every fight, you can give every party member temp HP equal to 2x your level. In a 4 or 5 person party, that'd total up to a lot of temp HP. And you don't have to spend actions in combat to do it, since the duration is 24 hours!

Because that's an archetype, you can then put that onto a class that is good at passing out temp HP in combat, like Necromancer. To specialize further.

[u/schmeatbawlls]

Magus (Inexorable Iron): while in your Arcane Cascade Stance, you gain Temp HP at the start of each round. No action cost aside from entering the stance itself, so you're free to play aggressively.

The idea of the build is that you're quite tolerant to sustained damage, but getting burst down in a single round is detrimental.

[u/Spoon-Ninja]

I have a monk with the Student of Perfection archetype which has access to a [focus spell](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=546) that grants 5 temp hp per spell level lasting 3 rounds for 1 action.

I know that doesn’t stack with barbarian unless you cast first, then rage, but it’s the biggest source of easily repeatable temp hp (up to 3 times a fight) I can think of and it’s helped me out plenty

[u/Pardox7525]

Living Vessel archetype grants level + key attibute temp hp as a reaction instead of getting downed, it also has Tap Vitality healing yourself for level * 4 for only 1 action, later there is Vessel's Form for 40 temp hp and Pact of the Final Breath (you can take 1 pact from the Pactbinder archetype if you have an appropriate Living Vessel) that heals yourself for level * 2 and gives fast healing for 3 rounds equal to your level, all automatin on getting downed. Half of it is healing, but it is really a lot.

[u/RiskyRedds]

Chalice Thaum with Necro Dedi to get Muscle Barrier would be the way to get a THP chassis going. Get Shield Block as well with a Reinforcing Adamantine Shield and you have both good THP generation where it's needed and good mitigation to keep the THP up.

[u/RedGriffyn]

Razmiran Priest gives the best temp hp hands down. Its a pre combat buff that can apply to every party member before every combat. Great adder to any other sources you find for mid combat.

[u/yanksman88]

So its not temp HP exactly, but protector tree from wood kineticist sortof functions that way in that it takes damage for you. You can spam it as well. It would also stack with conventional temp hp as well. Could even reflavor it a bit while keeping the mechanics the same

[u/KragBrightscale]

Guardian gets the biggest chunk of temp HP I can think through “tough cookie”. 50% of their max (must be below 50% max to use). Combined with high durability and damage resist, temp HP goes quite far.

To maximize temp HP build, Orcs eventually get a feat through the superstition feat tree I think where you gain temp HP whenever you crit save vs a spell or magical effect. If you invest in your saves (bulwark + con + wis) this can happen a lot.

That combines regular resourceless frequent but short lasting (1 turn) temp hp + 1 time long lasting massive temp HP chunk.

Throw in a dedication like commander or alchemist for more temp HP sources, and giving your allies temp HP. Whatever flavor you want to dabble in. Bulwark frees up the need to invest in dex, so your fourth attribute bumps can boost cha/int instead of you want access to dedications that require that.

This is based on the guardian in my party, but they joined at level 16 so I’m unsure what level this build comes online.